Chapter 75: The Saintess and the Black Death Evil Eye

Episode 75: The Saintess and the Black Death Evil Eye

“Hurry and triage the wounded!”

Under the direction of the Adventurer’s Guild staff, the wounded are being carried to one location. We, who had arrived in time to rescue the campsite, quickly regrouped with the succeeding troops that had caught up and decided to treat the wounded.

But because the number of wounded is large, the patients are being sorted according to the severity of their wounds. This is so that practitioners who can use high-rank recovery magic can concentrate on healing the seriously injured.

“Saintess-sama, we’re counting on you.”

“Yes, leave it to me.”

Foca, a high-ranking priestess, heals the seriously injured gathered by the Guild staff.

“High Heal.”

A warm light rises from Foca’s outstretched hand, healing the wounds of the seriously injured patient. I can’t see from here, but since they’re called seriously injured, their wounds must be quite severe. Foca’s figure, illuminated by the healing light, is divine, and even the people who aren’t receiving treatment are captivated by her form.

“Ah… the pain is fading…”

Color returns to the cheeks of the seriously injured person, who had a pale face until just moments ago, and their breathing also stabilizes.

“With this, the wound is closed. However, the lost blood will not return, so please let them rest and feed them things that will build blood.”

“Understood. Those who have finished treatment, immediately return to the tents and let them rest!”

“Then, the next patient please.”

Foca’s figure, diligently carrying out the treatment, is truly worthy of being called a Saintess.

“Now then, I guess I’ll start treatment too, so as not to lose to Foca-san.”

Since Foca was in charge of treating the seriously injured, I was in charge of treating the wounded with relatively light injuries.

“This is all of the lightly injured… I mean, are you going to treat this many people all by yourself?”

A wounded adventurer looks at me anxiously. Well, it’s true I’m still 15 years old. It can’t be helped if my ability is questioned.

“It’s okay. It’s true I’m still inexperienced, but even I can handle treating the lightly injured. We have to let the others treat those who are heavily injured. Besides, we’re treating with recovery magic, so age doesn’t matter.”

“…Well, I guess that’s true.”

Since the adventurer seems convinced, I guess I’ll start the treatment.

“Alright, I’ll begin everyone’s treatment. High Distant Heal!”

I treat the gathered people all at once with area-of-effect recovery magic. It’s one thing if they’re seriously injured, but if they’re lightly injured, it’s easier to treat them all at once with area-of-effect recovery magic.

“Ooh, the wound is healing!”

“Oi oi, even our wounds healed, and we’re this far away!?”

“Amazing, did he heal all the wounds of the guys gathered here!?”

The adventurers whose wounds healed raise their voices in excitement.

“It’s just area-of-effect recovery magic. Any reasonably experienced user of recovery magic can do it.”

“Are you serious!? Our priest can’t use magic like that!”

“Oi oi, I’ve never heard that before?”

Huh? Something about the adventurers’ reactions is strange. I’d think something like area-of-effect recovery magic is the basics of basics for a priest.

“Eh? What!? What’s going on!?”

Then Foca, who was treating the seriously injured over there, raises her voice in surprise. It’s not just Foca; the other priests who were treating the other wounded are also stirring.

“Is something wrong?”

“The patient in front of me’s wounds suddenly healed! Even though I hadn’t cast recovery magic yet!?”

“It’s the same for us. It’s as if they weren’t injured from the start…”

Ah, so my area-of-effect recovery magic over here healed the patients over there too. But I thought the ones over there were seriously injured or more than lightly injured, but I guess there were some lightly injured mixed in?

“I think the patients who were relatively lightly injured were probably healed by the after-effects of my area-of-effect recovery magic.”

“Area-of-effect recovery? W-what is that?”

“After-effects… Just what kind of recovery magic did you use!?”

Huh? Why does no one know about area-of-effect recovery magic?

“It’s recovery magic that heals everyone within a certain range. The amount of recovery is weakened, but there’s no limit to the number of people, so it’s more efficient when there are many lightly injured patients.”

“No way… I’ve never seen such recovery magic, not even in the Holy City.”

That’s strange. I’d think that after learning normal recovery magic, they’d teach area-of-effect recovery magic right away.

“You’re amazing! To be able to use such amazing recovery magic, you must be very devout!”

Foca says a line I feel like I’ve heard somewhere before. Come to think of it, Norb said something similar in the past.

“The deeper one’s faith in God, the more powerful recovery magic one can use. At such a young age, you possess a faith that rivals even a High Priest.”

Ah, so Foca is also a priest who was taught that way. Originally, recovery magic isn’t any kind of special power, but because some priests started saying that recovery magic, which heals wounds, is a holy power given by God, there were quite a few people in my previous life who thought the same way.

“After this request is over, let’s definitely go to the Holy City and be baptized! I’ll introduce you to the Bishop directly!”

If I accept, it’ll definitely involve me in troublesome things, and even if I explain the theory of recovery magic, I’ll probably just be glared at, so I’ll just brush it off appropriately here.

“The faith of a child like me isn’t a big deal. More importantly, I’m going to go check if there are any wounded I haven’t treated yet.”

“Ah, wait a minute!”

“Foca-san, please do your best treating the seriously injured—”

“Eh? Ah! That’s right. Bring the next patient.”

And so, I’ll quickly escape. For now, I’m glad Foca isn’t the type of person to abandon patients and get absorbed in faith or whatever.

◆

“I wonder where he could have gone?”

I am Foca, a priestess who serves God. Some people in the streets call me, who became an S-rank adventurer, a Saintess, but I am just a very normal priestess.

The reason I became an adventurer is that I lost faith in the bishops who are preoccupied with power struggles in the Holy City, and decided to save people with my own hands and feet.

In this land, I met a very wonderful boy. That child, though still young, was an S-rank adventurer, signifying he was a top-tier adventurer just like me.

Furthermore, he was a boy who wielded a mysterious recovery magic that healed people over a wide area, the likes of which I had never seen even in the Holy City, where priests from all over the world gather to train.

It’s not to praise myself, but I too have undergone considerable training. Even for me, the existence of a recovery magic I had never seen truly surprised me. This is because recovery magic is a miracle that heals by offering the light of healing, bestowed by God, to the wounded. In other words, it is necessary to apply the healing light directly to the wound from the hand of the one using the healing magic.

And yet, that boy performed healing without applying the light of healing to the wounds. He himself said he was able to heal them because they were light injuries, but even wounds that I, who have seen the wounds of the injured for many years, judged as serious, healed in an instant.

I rejoiced at this encounter. Because this is the first time in my life I have encountered such a miracle of healing.

I was convinced that this child must be a child loved by God. And that this child also deeply reveres God. Otherwise, he should not be able to wield such a miracle.

In the end, although I tried to treat the remaining wounded after that, all the other wounded had already had their wounds healed by that child’s recovery magic that heals people at a distance.

Confirming that, I immediately tried to invite that child to be baptized, but his figure was nowhere to be found.

“Could he be lost?”

I’m a little worried. Around me, the adventurers who accompanied us and the guild staff are checking the broken camp equipment and the ravaged supplies, and no one seems to know where that child is. On top of the wall protecting the camp, there are adventurers holding back approaching monsters and practitioners keeping watch with detection magic in case a horde of monsters approaches, so I’m glad he doesn’t seem to be able to slip outside. Because there was a large-scale monster assault a few hours ago, everyone is dead serious.

And Wanda-san, the guild executive who led us S-rank team here, and the others seem to be examining the subjugated monsters.

“There’s a monster that wasn’t in the reports up until now.”

“A new species?”

“No, it’s a monster in the Guild’s records, but it’s a monster that has never been discovered inside or outside the mine until now. It’s probably a monster that inhabited an unexplored section of the cave, or those ruins.”

They are repeatedly discussing, trying to uncover information about the ruins and the cave from the types of monsters. If they know the types of monsters they’ll encounter, it reduces the danger by that much, so they are serious too.

“I’m concerned about how many of the monsters that came out of the cave are wandering inside the mine.”

“It would be terrible if a monster that got lost in the intricate mineshafts attacked us from behind. Depending on the report from the scouting party, it might be better to prioritize the annihilation of the monsters inside the mine first.”

They’re working diligently, so it would be bad to disturb them. And so, as I was walking through the camp again, searching for Rex-kun, I suddenly heard a voice calling me.

“Saintess-sama—!”

“Yes, what is it?”

To be honest, I wish they would stop using this ‘Saintess’ name, as it’s embarrassing…

“It’s terrible! The scouting party was hit by the Black Death Evil Eye of a Helbasilisk!”

“A Helbasilisk!?”

I’ve heard of it. It’s an S-rank dangerous monster, and if I recall, it’s a higher species of basilisk. It is said that, unlike a normal basilisk, its body is black as night, and it attacks with a special evil eye called the Black Death Evil Eye, not the evil eye of petrification. And, it is also said that those afflicted by the Black Death Evil Eye are under a most terrible curse that accepts no treatment whatsoever.

“The decurse magic of the other priests is ineffective. Could we please borrow your power, Saintess-sama?”

“Understood.”

If that’s the case, I must lend a hand. The whole reason I became an adventurer in the first place was because I wanted to be able to immediately extend a hand if someone, somewhere, was asking for help.

“I’ll guide you.”

I was guided by the Guild member and came to the patient in question. Beside the patient were several priests, but they were all looking down, having failed in their treatment.

“It’s the Saintess-sama!”

“The Saintess-sama will surely be able to do something!”

Everyone turns their expectant gazes toward my arrival. To be honest, this is my first time removing a Helbasilisk’s curse, though.

“Saintess-sama, this way.”

I swallow my inner anxiety and turn to face the patient.

“T-this is…!?”

Seeing the patient afflicted by the curse, I involuntarily raise my voice at the unusual sight. Because half of the body of the patient lying on the ground was dyed black.

“This is… the Black Death Curse of the Helbasilisk.”

Rumor has it that those afflicted by the Helbasilisk’s curse die with their entire bodies dyed in darkness. Which means, the time limit is when all the parts that aren’t yet dyed black, turn black.

“In any case, I will try offering a prayer of decursing.”

I kneel before the patient and offer a prayer of decursing. However, no matter how much I light the prayer of light, the patient’s skin before my eyes would not regain its original color. On the contrary, their body was only becoming more and more dyed black.

“Don’t tell me, even the Saintess-sama can’t do it!?”

My decurse magic has no effect, and the people watching from the sidelines stir.

“If it’s come to this, I will try all the healing spells I know.”

Perhaps the Black Death Evil Eye is not a curse. In the past, I have seen patients whose symptoms progressed and became critical because they continued with the wrong treatment due to a preconceived notion, and in the worst cases, people who died because treatment was not in time. From such experiences, I considered the possibility that this was not a curse and tried various treatments.

I cast various healing magic on the patient, such as paralysis treatment, disease healing, and antidotes. But no matter what magic I chanted, there was no sign of the injured person’s skin returning to normal.

“N-no…”

Having exhausted all my options, I stop my treatment, just like the other priests.

“No, even the Saintess-sama can’t treat it…”

“Could it be that this request is pretty bad?”

“Idiot, we knew that from the start.”

The atmosphere of the people around me becomes enveloped in anxiety and fear. If even I, who likely has the greatest healing power among those here, cannot treat it, it’s no wonder that everyone is shaken.

“Guuu!”

At that moment, the patient in front of me began to suffer even more.

“I can’t, this is the limit!”

Looking, the patient’s skin is almost entirely dyed black. The patient can’t hold on any longer.

“Damn it! Is it no use!?”

Just as everyone’s hearts were enveloped in despair, thinking nothing more could be done, it was at that moment.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

The one who appeared there was the boy from before, Rex-kun.

“Huh? This person…”

Rex-kun peers at the patient’s blackened skin. …! I mustn’t! I mustn’t show such a cruel sight to a boy like this!

“You mustn’t, Rex-kun! Get away from here immediately!”

“It’s the Black Death Evil Eye of the Helbasilisk. We have to heal it quickly, Elder Heal!”

Rex-kun, who suddenly said such a thing, produces an incredibly divine light from the palm of his hand. And the light envelops the patient’s body, and in the blink of an eye, it erased the black curse that was eroding their body.

“………Eh?”

Huh? Just now, the curse, it seemed to disappear… I look at the patient once more. It’s not just me; everyone around is also staring intently at the patient.

Yes, their skin color has returned. It’s not black. Their breathing has also calmed.

“””…Eeeeeeeeh!?”””””

W-wait a minute!? What’s going on!? I’m sure this patient was on the verge of death just now, weren’t they!?

“W-w-w-what’s going on!? How did you heal him!?”

We, who had seen an unbelievable sight, couldn’t stand still and questioned Rex-kun.

“Eh? I just treated him with normal compound recovery magic?”

Compound recovery magic? What’s that?

“The Helbasilisk’s Black Death Evil Eye is something that causes multiple status ailments at the same time. Like curse, poison, and paralysis. And this effect, even if you treat just one, it immediately returns to how it was. That’s why you have to treat them all at the same time.”

“You say ‘you have to,’ but so easily…”

“The Helbasilisk’s Black Death Evil Eye… could be treated…?”

“Yes, in the past, when it wasn’t known that it was multiple status ailments, it seems many deaths occurred, but now it has become possible to treat it easily with compound recovery magic.”

Wait, wait, I don’t know such magic, and I don’t think it’s easy at all. In the first place, why do you know such a thing!?

I look at Ramies, the mage called the Celestial Magus and a fellow S-rank, who happened to be walking nearby. He was not just a powerful mage, but also a scholar who had traveled many ruins and revived ancient magic.

However, he shakes his head and hands, gesturing that this is the first he’s heard of it. In other words, this child knows things that even he doesn’t know?

“If we have that compound recovery magic, then we don’t have to worry about the Helbasilisk’s evil eye anymore, right?”

The other adventurers speak to Rex-kun, looking relieved.

“Yes, but it’s also possible to treat it if multiple practitioners cast multiple types of recovery magic at the same time.”

“Really!? Alright, immediately make a list of which healing magic users can use which recovery magic! And station at least two users of every type of recovery magic on standby in the camp!”

“Understood!”

Wanda-san and the others who heard Rex-kun’s explanation immediately start to move. But I couldn’t be bothered with that. Because, this child in front of me is surely… surely.

“You are the very Child of God who governs healing, Rex-kun!”

That’s right, this child must be the Child of God of healing, sent by God!

“Eh? Eeh?”

“It’s wonderful! To think I would be able to meet the Child of God, who is said to be sent by God when the world falls into disarray!”

Overcome with emotion, I unintentionally hug Rex-kun.

“Mmph!?”

“You absolutely must be baptized in the Holy City!”

“Mgh!? Mmph!?”

Excited, I unconsciously put strength into the arms hugging Rex-kun.

“T-that brat! How enviable, being buried in the Saintess-sama’s chest!”

“Damn! I’d trade places with him!”

“No, but isn’t that brat convulsing?”

“Mpaah!”

Then Rex-kun pulled my arms, which were hugging him with great strength, away and separated himself. I mustn’t, that was a little too familiar. I must reflect.

“Zeeh… zeeh… I, I thought I was going to die…”

“I’m sorry. I just got a little excited. And so, I really want you to come to the Holy City with me. If you, the Child of God, go for baptism, I think God would also be pleased.”

“Um… I refuse.”

“Eeh!? Why!?”

No, baptism in the Holy City is something any believer would yearn for.

“In the first place, what is this ‘Child of God’?”

Oh, I mustn’t. That’s right, I have to start with that explanation.

“Eeto, a Child of God is a very holy child sent by God. When the world gets into a terrible state, they save the people with amazing achievements. They’re amazing people who use recovery magic that’s literally like a miracle, which no one else can use, or make the impossible possible.”

“Erm, I just did what I can normally do. Anyone can treat the Helbasilisk’s evil eye as long as they can use compound recovery magic.”

Eh? Is that so?

“Besides, even if you can’t use compound recovery magic, anyone can do it if everyone shares the multiple recovery magic. You can’t be called a Child of God for doing something anyone can do, can you?”

“W-when you put it that way… is that so?”

“That’s right.”

Now that he mentions it, I feel like that might be the case… Compound recovery magic is amazing, but it’s true that if it’s possible to treat it by having multiple priests share the burden, maybe it can’t be called a great deed of a Child of God?

“Uun…”

T-that’s right. There’s no way the legendary Child of God would be around so easily.

“It’s not like you’ll find someone who can use super wide-range recovery magic that can save all the soldiers wounded on a battlefield, regardless of friend or foe, as told in the legends, or someone who can easily discover a treatment method for a magic poison that no one could cure.”

“Exactly. Well then, I’ll be going.”

Saying that, Rex-kun went off somewhere. I did a bad thing by startling him with my misunderstanding.

“…Um, Saintess-sama.”

A priest who was nearby timidly speaks to me.

“What is it?”

“He, with that area-of-effect recovery magic from before, right? He treated all the wounded in the camp, which is about the size of a small village.”

Hm?

“And it healed some pretty serious injuries, too.”

Hmm?

“Also, I think the Helbasilisk’s Black Death Evil Eye is classified as a type of magic poison that no one could treat, and isn’t teaching us a treatment method so that anyone can do it also a wonderfully noble act?”

…Hmmmm?

“””Isn’t that exactly what you described as the Child of God, Saintess-sama?”””

“…”

“Saintess-sama?”

“H-he really is the Child of God, isn’t he—! Hey! Where’d you go, Rex-ku—n!?”

I messed up—! I fell for his “anyone can treat it” line! Moo! I’m definitely going to take that child to the Holy City and make him get baptized!